Columnist: Debbie Matthews

It’s kind of like Costco. When we started shopping at that giant warehouse store Petey and I had a terrible time making it out without spending the equivalent of the GDP. I’d walk those aisles grabbing products right and left.

To me, the way to tell if something is anything is that it sticks with you.

A week after seeing a movie, do you find yourself thinking about it? When you’re standing in line at the gas station are you wondering how the heroine in your book will extract herself from the seemingly inextricable predicament?

We live pretty close to Brier Creek, and the Earth Fare (10341 Moncreiffe Road, Raleigh). I love shopping there because they have all kinds of interesting items; lots of unusual produce, many different cheeses, and more organic products than I knew existed.

So last week Petey and I had a couple of errands to run. It was one of those really cold, windy, raw days. The kind of day where you’d happily stay bundled up in bed sipping hot chocolate if you could. But of course you can’t (or at least I can’t).

I would be much happier to attend any of those parties instead of a pizza party. What is it about pizza that automatically makes it into a party? Even ice cream only rates “social” status. Sometimes I feel like I’m the only person on the planet who doesn’t adore pizza.

But on the fancy/romance scale, he lands well above Blackbeard, but somewhere below Pepe Le Pew. His heart’s in the right place, but he eschews elaborate trappings—he is absolutely and completely unpretentious.